


The Flicker of a Candle

by oakreef



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Animal Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oakreef/pseuds/oakreef
Summary: Something interfered with the Tardis landing and the Doctor won't rest until they figure out what. Mallaidh keeps seeing something out of the corner of her eye...





	The Flicker of a Candle

Mallaidh squinted in the harsh light beaming through the tree branches, trying to get her bearings. She shielded her eyes, trying to take in her surroundings. Something was moving to her left but as she turned to it face it she caught a flash of movement from the other direction in the corner of her eye. Suddenly she was on her side with a sharp pain in her shoulder.

Mallaidh heard the Doctor's voice "It's alright we're safe. I think. Hard to be sure with an emergency teleport. Do you feel like all your organs are still in the correct position?"

Mallaidh's heart was still racing. She closed her eyes. _Deep breaths_. When she opened her eyes again she was facing a large rock sitting a few inches in from of her head. _If I'd fallen onto that it could have split my head open. What a way to die after the adventures we've been having._

__

__

The Doctor called out from behind her, "Mallaidh are you awake?"

"No, I'm thinking." She turned to face them and tried to stand up, but her foot was caught in a tree root.

She squinted up at the Doctor, her eyes not having adjusted to the light yet.

"Are you alright? Can’t say I blame you for being disoriented after that." the Doctor said picking leaves out of their hair and trying to straighten it.

Mallaidh pulled her leg out of the tree root and stood up, shielding her eyes again and looking around. Finally she responded "I'm fine. I thought I saw something moving towards me. I tried to move but my foot was caught and I fell. No sign of it now, whatever it was."

Mallaidh took her hand down from her face, her eyes starting to adjust to the light. She and the Doctor were standing at the edge of a small clearing in the middle of a wood. The trees shone green in the midday Sun as they swayed gently in the breeze, as did the grass and moss-covered rocks.

"Doctor, where are we?"

"We’re exactly where I said we were going, Mallaidh. Just on the edge of Kasterbor-"

"Stop. Stop stop. You know what I mean. Where is the Tardis and why are we no longer in it."

"Ah yes, that. Not a problem."

"I didn’t ask if it was a-"

"Nothing to worry about at all. It’s nearby. Very nearby. We’re right on top of it in fact."

Mallaidh looked around one last time, confirming the clear lack of a large blue box in the immediate vicinity. Everything around was green.

"Doctor, where is the Tardis?"

"Like I said, we’re right on top of it." Mallaidh met the Doctor’s gaze and then followed it as they slowly lowered their head, facing into the ground just beneath them. The Doctor bounced on their heels and then tapped their feet on the spot they were standing. _Ah_.

Mallaidh took a deep breath. The Doctor liked this game. The pulling teeth game. Making her ask a hundred questions to get a single answer. _Why is the Tardis buried the ground?_ she was meant to ask next. Instead she said "Well let’s go find some people and see if we can borrow a shovel so."

"What? No it’s tens of metres down. I think it's stuck in the bedrock!"

"Fine then. A shovel and a pick."

The Doctor looked aghast. "I am not spending hours digging the Tardis out with a shovel."

"Probably a few days, at least." She paused to appreciate the complexion draining from the Doctor’s face. "You’ve never done a day’s work in your life, have you?"

"I’ve done jobs you’ve never even heard of. More than you could count. Anyway that’s not the point. Something interfered with the Tardis while we were landing. Everything was going fine and dandy when suddenly all the readings were wrong. Something was draining the power impossibly fast. I tried to compensate and then we weren’t on the surface any more we were stuck in the ground and losing power in every system. All I had time to do before the whole thing died was activate the emergency teleport to throw us out."

"So something here saw the Tardis arriving and pushed it into the ground?"

"No. It happened while we were materialising. That would be impossible. That would take more energy than exists in the whole universe. It moved the planet up into us."

"The- It moved _the whole world_ , just to trap us?"

"Yes, and I’m going to find out who did it."


End file.
